Romans 1, I think I'll turn there first. I'm going to go off my notes. This hit me, so I think I'll start there, Romans 1. I'm going to do some of the tasks that I did last week over. I'm not going to do that, but I'll do a review and maybe go a little slower. Since I started pretty far back and was trying to get a whole lot in, so hopefully take some time and help this to make more sense. Romans 1 is an accountability passage. I often think about teaching through Romans. I'm like, man, I think I'll get there. But in my own private study, I'm not much past Romans 1. I keep going back to that passage again and again and again. And though the challenge of presenting it would help drive me forward, I'm not ready to yet. Because Malachi just has, the next chapter is four verses. So there's not much and so it will be somewhere, but I think I'm going to have another Old Testament book to go through that's short. Romans 1 has us first to where we are. Like I said, it's accountability. Romans 1.18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and his Godhead, so that they are without excuse." That applies to us today. We know that we live in a creation made by a Creator. This does not just happen. If you just took symbiosis, if you just took and studied the cell, Elaine went and took, she's a cancer nurse, oncology nurse, and so she went and she had to take some special training for this. And she was like coming home praising God. If you just knew the level of this one cell and how it goes and how we can light this up and how it attacks and how we try to encourage this and all that. She goes, man, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And she said, I had to say something to the doctor who was teaching the class. She's like, that doesn't just happen. He's like, that's a whole mechanism. It's how a society would work down to the cellular level. It was just right there, and it seemed like there was something in that Is Genesis history movie that we saw that had something along that same line. And she was like, that's the same way. That's the feeling I had after watching that, after being in that class. We know it, where we are, when we are, how these things are going, that it works this way. I mean, creation decries its creator. And this tells us that we clearly see it. It's been revealed to each and every one of us at one point in time. It's been revealed to us. There's a creator. We've had the thought. And we either move towards him or we move away from him. It says it's manifest to us. He showed it to us. It's clearly seen. We understand. We either turn towards him or we run away from him. And he says, look, we're without excuse. We all stand in front of him knowing that he exists. And we've either run from him or we've run and sought after him. I use the analogy that God plays checkers. He moves first, He uses creation and whatever else to get us to respond to move and to draw us in, to get us to His special revelation, the Word, where He teaches and instructs us from it. But He says, specifically even in our day, that we change the truth of God into a lie. That's verse 25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and serve the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. That's our culture today, right? No, we made ourselves. We came up from, there was a big bang and nothing exploded, made everything. That's really what they teach, that's really what they think. And then it became planets, so you have evolutionary, planetary evolution. They don't understand that. They don't know how it happens. But that's what they have to hold to. And then you have on that, you have biology that evolves from nothing into everything, getting more and more complex over time, which we don't see. We don't observe. It applies in the face of all scientific principles. We don't see it. We don't observe it. But that's what we believe and hold to. Technology comes from the Bible in that we see and know it and we repeat it. We can see and understand these principles, guides, and laws. And we're able to use that to advance. We have intelligent design. But we'd rather say we came from nothing, that we made ourselves. If anything, we came from the creatures. We are monkeys to man, you know, from the catchy line is from the goo to the zoo to you. You know, that's how we came, you know, from the primedial soup, you know, to the animal to now. But where science is showing us the Cambrian explosion, to use their terms, it wasn't just like, oh, one thing, and it branched out and got more. It was everything, and we've gotten less. You know, if anything, the tree's upside down. And so more things have died off. But we live in a culture that's based on that lie. No, there is no God. You can't even allow him into the argument. If it's true science you would say, How did this come to be? One of those would have to be supernatural that someone created and spoke into existence, but it's like, nope, can't be that. It'd be like the chief of police coming out here saying, oh, there was a murder. The mayor's been murdered, but the suspect can't be white. Go find him. What if the guy was white? All of a sudden, you just blocked out one of the categories you can't look at. It doesn't make sense. And yet, that's what they do. And it goes on it says verse 28 says for even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge But God gave them over to reprobate mine to do those things which are not convenient And even verse 32 as it goes on who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death Not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them that they take more people down with them try to convert them to their cause and bring more people over to run from God. So that's our culture today. So God writes a chapter like this, where the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write this to say, no, that's not how it is. You were created. I made you. It's clearly seen. People are without excuse. They know it. They clear it. I've had an encounter with him. And so with that in mind, let's look at the one for the ancient world. That's where we are. That's the status and where we are today. So go to Genesis 6, and I say I'm not It's a Romans 1 type event. It's not apples and apples at quite exactly, but we have a bizarre portion of scripture. It sounds strange in our ears because it's not something we talk about. It's not something that we are taught that's real or can exist. But as we say, we take, I interpret the Bible plainly is how I try to say it. I would say literally, but then people are like, oh, it says this over here. Plainly. When it uses symbology, I know it's using symbology. When it's using poetry, I know when it's using poetry. So I interpret it plainly, how the author intended. I take it word for word, and I believe it's literal, but I have to say plainly because they use it as a word trap. And it tells us things like David fought a giant, you know, and they found these giants. And we have all these strange stories that there are angels, that there are spirit beings that come down. We have all these different bizarre things, snake talking, axe heads floating, dead people made alive, you know, and all these different bizarre things. It's in here, you know, and this is what we believe. It's part of what we understand, miracles that happen, you know, that Moses was able to part the Red Sea. Well, God parts the Red Sea for Moses and as they go through. But these things happen, great events where God shows himself. And one of the things he puts in here, because it's God's word, we know that the New Testament tells us it's inspired, God breathed. And in Genesis 6, he says, And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, so we're back, this is before the flood, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God, the Bneioth Elohim, these spirit beings, saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wise, all which they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he hath also flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. And that's not just how long we'll live, it's from this decree, it was roughly 120 years before he flooded the world. That's what we say that Noah built the ark for 120 years, it's during that time. Verse four, there were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bared children to them, the same became mighty men, which are of old, men of renown. And then verse 5 says, And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his thoughts were heart-wrung evil continually. And he repented the Lord that he made man on the earth, and he grieved him in his heart. And so he's going to flood the world. He moves Noah to build the ark, to bring in two of every kind, seven of the clean, and to bring his family to survive on the other side. So this is here to clarify. Because again, we see the world, why is the world in the shape that it is in? Because we say sin, the fall, that's why. Because the fall from Adam and Eve, that's why the world is the way it is. The ancient world saw three different things. They saw the fall, Adam and Eve and the fall there, the fall of creation because of sin. They saw this event, the angels interceding and messing up mankind. And we looked more at that last week of what all they did. which was not only did they mingle their seed with the seed of men, that they also taught forbidden technologies and that they taught how to make war and how to, the instruments of war and astronomy, astrology, I want to say it right, astronomy you can do, astrology you can do, and you know, dividing roots, drugs and things like that. They messed everything up. They just went after it and introduced it. And then, And then also they also viewed so they viewed the fall of mankind the angels interceding Corrupting mankind and then the Tower of Babel the split there. We're gonna look at more of that later. Yeah Gene splicing. We mentioned that from the book of Enoch. Is it a biblical book? No. Is it an extra biblical book? Yes. But is it one that the ancient people all read? Like we said, it was number three in the amount of copies found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Isaiah no it was in front of Isaiah. I don't say it was Leviticus. I had my list It's in my notes, but it's it's number three. It's above Psalms. It's above all the other that they esteemed it in pretty high regard They'd all read it Is it the Bible? No, I don't think it is, but does it inform us of information? Yes, and there are other books that the Bible talks about it Is it not written in the book of Jasher? Is it not written in the book of Jubilees? It just says these are history. They're not my word, but they tell you about what's going on. Enoch is one of those books that it's in that category as we'll see it influences much of the New Testament too. but we're taking what we have in scriptures here. And so they saw these three events, the fall, the fallen angels incursion here, and the Tower of Babel, which will look more what happens there and what makes it, that affects us here today more than these others do. I just forgot something, okay. But Genesis was written by Moses and the story in their region and the place in which Moses lived in the area in which they grew up there. They called it the Levant, a fancy word for that whole area. Told facts wrong. Basically it was the Moses version of fake news. That's the buzzword right now. They had a fake news, which shouldn't surprise us. Satan is what? A liar. Jesus tells him, you're a liar. You're a liar from the beginning. You twist, you manipulate, you change the facts. And they usually say, well, a good lie is 99% true. that little bit in there, just tweak it, and Satan's good at that, we saw him in the garden. And he does that here with this event, in that the culture in that local area where Moses and the Jews were all growing up, in the Mesopotamian area there, which contained Mesopotamia, Sumer, the Assyrians, Babylonians, and a few others, I think it totaled about seven in that region. But they thought these demigods, which were what they called this offspring between angel and humans, We're a demigod which is part mortal, part immortal. As a matter of fact, immortal is probably the better word to use for these supernatural beings, better than angel, because an angel is a job that an immortal can have and that they can deliver a message. So I'm going to probably use the word immortal, try to make it more clear. In the Greek, they use the word archon. It means a ruler. That's what Paul's talking about when he talks about that there are powers, principalities, rulers in darkness, these archons, these immortals. But we're not ready for the Greek yet. The local story on Moses Day was that these demigods, these part mortal, immortal beings, were created by the god Enki. Sounds hinky to me, but it is what's called inky. And he made these creatures to establish culture, to give civilization to mankind, to teach them technology, that they were going to be spared through the flood by these instructors. As a matter of fact, they served in the post-flood world as priests and as adversaries or advisors. Not adversaries. Advisors is the right word for my writing drum. to the king of Sumer particularly and they gave a moral code called ME or me which is i.e. the law, how to live, you know rules to govern them by and they also taught crafts and the arts and so they see the same story that I just told you about this bad angels doing bad things that corrupt mankind where God has to afford the world they said no these guys were good they taught us civilization they taught us all these good things matter of fact they called these beings the Apkallu That's A-P-K-A-L-L-U-S if you want to look it up. And you can read this story there of the Apkallu. And out of this Apkallu, these ones that were this hybrid, one of them you probably know the name of because they had seven of them. And one of them was called Gilgamesh. Have you ever heard the Epic of Gilgamesh? That's one of this Apkallu. If you ever see a drawing of Gilgamesh, he has a lion under his arm like it's a kitten. So he's a big giant and he rustles around and fights and has all these exploits. Again, it's one of the oldest books outside the Bible that's still around, the Epic of Gilgamesh, but it's based on these stories. So God has Moses put this in, well, for many reasons, but one of the reasons is to tell the truth. He's like, no, these aren't good guys. These aren't guys who taught us good things. These aren't guys who are there to help us. These are bad guys that corrupted the world, and I had to wipe them out to start the world over. gives us one of the reasons for the flood. Then we know that also after that, that it happens where David and Joshua and all of them have to battle them too. So, immortal and mortal copulation begat giants, or these men of renown, also called Nephilim. We have skeletal remains on the earth. Many stories. As a matter of fact, if you go around the world, there's as many giant stories as there are flood stories for each culture. And we think that's because when you had the Tower of Babel, and they all broke up, they all took their version. It's usually divided up into 70 sections. It was divided into 70 nations that they all had a story about the flood. And so you had many of those. Kin Ham and the Ancestors in Genesis, they account for a lot of those flood stories. Somebody had the people in that day had a long spoon that poked the sky, and some guy had to build a boat to help them all survive. They have all these differences. There's the grain of the truth that's in there, but they all get bizarre. And so it's there, but you have that grain of truth. It's the same way here where God's just like, I'm setting you straight. This is what was going on, and I'm now making it right. And so the most famous story in our culture that has survived outside of the Bible is the Greek Titans. We can think of them, we have two of the main ones, Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants. No, that's just a joke. But it does make you wonder why they picked those names. But the Titans have names. The first round of guys, we don't know as much. There's one that we know more about, but there's Coas, Kronos, Krias, Hyperion, Lapias, Oceanus, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia and Theimus, Achilles, Hercules, Perseus. We know some of these guys just from story. They're being sold to our kids. They're packaged in a new thing called Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. He is a demigod who is an offspring of these. And boy, don't you want to be one? That's how it's sold to them. The newest version is Walt Disney's, how do you say the new one? Manoa? Hawaiian girl? Moana? The guy, the hero in the story is a demigod who can change and he's just forcing. Boy, you want him? He's your hero. You want to hang out with him? Really? I don't think so. But it's being sold to us, and so it is out there. So a recent peer-reviewed archaeological finding document reveals that the Bible Amorites and the Rephaim, the tribes that we know as the Amorites and the Rephaim, are the titans of Greek mythology. Again, like I said, we have these different stories, and it's like, oh, how can the Amorites be the Titans? Like I said, 70 nations split up. They all take a version of the story back. Nimrod has 70 different names around the world because he was the one building the Tower of Babel. So as the cultures all split, he stands to reason he'd have 70 different names. And so they did. And so they get this from... a funerary text called KTU 1.61. It says this, the Amorite kings of the Ugarit were crowned in a conjuring ritual to summon Raphaim and Titans who were considered their ancestors. Englishized version of what they were doing where they say, oh, they were talking about the same people. So I meant to have my chart up here to write, so I'll write in the air. So we know what beings exist. We live in a day and age where they're crying out for Disclosure you know oh, let's tell us what's going on. What's going on? Do we know anything about aliens or not you know the? Podesta emails were all about that we had Ed level an astronaut saying we need Obama needs to tell he needs to disclose before he leaves you'll have contact with all these aliens you can look up those emails which he admitted were stolen out of his thing, but No, I would probably spell it wrong, but no thank you so but Now here's what we know exists. There's more than just us. There's God, right? And God is made up of three persons. The Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity, so that's the head, that's the chief of all. Underneath that we'll call them the immortals, the spirit beings, those who live in the third heaven. Not us, but them. And so archons is what they're called in the Greek. And then there's men and women. We know them, that's us, right? That's who are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. That's where we are. And then there's a category that wasn't supposed to be when you have the immortals and men and women copulating and you call them the Nephilims or the Giants or Zopcala or whatever else and so on. They have a bunch of different names. So God doesn't sin. He's God. He's righteous. He's holy. He's perfect. The immortals, some sinned. 2 Peter talks about them being in prison, locked up in jail. Jude talks about some that are in these chains of gloomy darkness reserved until judgment. So we knew that there were some locked up in there and we assumed that this is what it was for. Enoch tells us just flat out, this is what it's for. That's the only thing it does. But again, we kind of came to some of these conclusions just from the scripture alone, that these were locked up in prison. Others are free, others are still good. We see in the book of Daniel watchers that are still good and they're able to decree and give God's decree. and to interact with mankind in that way in which they were allowed to. Men and women, we all die. We sin. We are made in the image of Adam. We have it passed down to us. And death is what awaits us. So God made us a way of escape for us through his son Jesus Christ. He became a man, came down here, lived the perfect life that you and I couldn't live, made himself the escape route, the escape hatch, he's basically the ark, the Noah's Ark, for us in our day. If we all get in Christ, we can have salvation. You repent and trust in him, you can be saved and you are beginning to become a son of God. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15, the entrance in Genesis Museum does an excellent job as a walk-through track. You start out with Adam in the Garden of Eden and then before you leave, after you go through 11 chapters of Genesis, the last thing you see is the last Adam. You're supposed to sit through it and it's a salvation presentation called the last Adam. or the second Adam. So here in 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 22 says, For in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall be all made alive. Adam is the first man, and because he sinned, we are all plunged into death. Jesus Christ is the second Adam. He comes, does not sin, lives the perfect life, dies, and now if we repent and trust in him, we can all be made alive in him. Just like because of Adam, we all have death passed down to us, now because of Jesus Christ, we can have life passed down to us through what he's done, through this second Adam. Matter of fact, look back up to verse 21. It says, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. The hope of resurrection through Jesus Christ. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. We have that opportunity because of what Christ has done for us. Look at the first Peter. It's to the right there. First Peter chapter one. Again, in the New Testament period, Even more in particular than the Old Testament, Enoch was a hero. They'd read him. Jude quotes him. And so, like I said, shouldn't be in the Bible, but it informs us if you read it, you know what they are thinking about, and it helps you understand what they are talking about. Just like if I wrote something about iPhones, and I think last time I said Switch, it's Twitch. Isn't that the new Nintendo or the new thing? Twitch? Twitch switch yeah, I still got a backward switch. Yeah, so what is it got some noodle? I don't know you know different words Maybe if we can talk about our culture and people be like I don't you know what you know if you went back to my grandparents I don't know what you're talking about. It's like it's so probably in a hundred years from now. They won't know what we're talking about even but So if you understood the culture of what they were doing, what they were reading, what they were thinking, it helps you be informed of what they were doing and what they are putting in the scriptures. In 1 Corinthians 1.12 it says, unto whom it was revealed that not only themselves, but also they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Angels desire to look into. They want to know about this forgiveness of sins. They want to know about salvation. They are interested in you and I repenting and trusting Christ and having our sins forgiven. This is a foreign thing to them. They can't have that. The word desire there. lost after. Boy, there's some of them who haven't fallen that are just interested in that we would choose this, that we've never seen God, and yet we repent and trust in Him, that we believe Him, we take Him on faith, and that we believe Him. There's others who have fled God and are living a rebellious life away from Him that wish their sins could be forgiven, but they can't. Because He didn't become an angel, we'll see here in a little bit. They're desired into this. And so those that fell, especially those in Genesis chapter 6 that were in that early judgment, they saw God. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that the angels, or the sons of God, the immortals, they watched Him create the universe and rejoiced. You know, they sang. Job says in the Morning Star, they all sang for joy. They saw what He was doing. They were all praising Him. At the end of the creation week, All of them. God said, it is good. That meant there was no fallen angels. There was nothing going on. It was all good. It was working out according to plan. That you had God, these immortals that were working, doing his bidding in heaven. Then he decides to make man. We are to do his bidding on earth. Sin comes in you know Satan doesn't like it. They don't like us being added to it I don't know like it's being made out of dirt and not stardust. I don't Like us so he comes down. He's like no no no no we it's me I think I will be God and so he introduces us Eve sins Adam sins plunge us all into sin, but they are you know they are interested in this look at verse 7 same chapter and So 1 Peter 1.7 says, The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. He's trying to help us. to persevere, to endure tribulation, to know that your faith is being tried and that you're going to come forth as gold. As we saw this morning, He's going to count you as a precious jewel. Sometimes we have to go through the tumbler to roll us around and shine us up. whom, having not seen, ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He's talking about faith there. You haven't seen him, yet you love him, and whom now, you don't see him, and yet you still believe, and he says, and you have joy, and you're full of glory, because we trust in him, and what's going on. Verse nine, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired, and search diligently who prophesied or that grace should come unto you." The prophets didn't see all of this. They were talking about a time when we would have this, when Christ would be resurrection and we could have salvation and the Holy Spirit would dwell with us and not leave us and not depart from us. We're in an envious time. Kind of makes you just want to say praise God for where we live praise God for the country in which we live that we have the gospel preach praise God that it's kind of our heritage to have a Christian foundation that is there the You'll kind of in the American culture in that way praise God for where we live when we live how we live You know we are blessed by that because some nations don't have that it's a hard thing for them verse 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not only themselves, but unto us did they minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel, unto you which the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Again, like I said, angels are just very curious that we believe, having not seen, and that we have salvation open and available to us. Because we don't see and yet believe that there's immortals. There's immortals that are in prison that have no hope. They're in there for their sin. They have no hope. And once there, we saw last week that Enoch told some details. Specifically, it went and it talked about Azazel, I'm sure the guy said his name and I mentioned him and I pulled him out because he's the one that's called the scapegoat in the New Testament who's buried in a deep pit with sharp rocks on him that as he's out there year after year the sins of the people on this goat was taken and added to him it's not a sacrifice to him it's added to him it's a place saying that no your sins are far away in a deep dark pit never be remembered anymore they're cataloged to him because he was the one who introduced war and these other things and so Like again, we looked at that last week, and so these are there. It's like it's a dark pit. Our sin is taken and removed far away. That is the picture that is painted for us. punishment was there for those that sinned and for, if you think of those angels that sinned and that before the flood incursion there, that all their offsprings died, they died in battles, they died during the flood. Every man and woman who was not on the ark died and so it was a time of a purging over the world. We've only lived in the world after that. But they wanted forgiveness. Some of them did. You know, after you're in a dark hole for a while with sharp rocks on you and you can't move, which sounds horrible to me. I can't imagine. There was some stupid artist. I'll call him that because that's what I think. It was over in Europe. But he cut a rock in half and carved out a spot just big enough for him to sit. He's going to lock himself in there for eight days? No thanks. I like the mood. I wiggle too much to be stuck in a rock. I can't imagine being pinned down and trapped in there. He had enough room, he could wiggle a little bit. But yeah, look it up. A guy who artist traps himself in rock. Nuts. But these guys would choose to do that, to be trapped in there. After you're in there for a while, you're like, you know, this really wasn't worth it. So they wanted to be released. I don't think you have to speculate that. I think if I was trapped in a dark hole in hell, I'd want help. There's no hope. Once you're there, this is the time where we decide. The book of Enoch, like I said, extra-biblical book, but the story that it tells is that they were there and they're like, hey, God likes Enoch. He didn't die. God took him home. Maybe he'll intercede on our behalf. The story that's recorded there says that they asked to see Enoch, that it was granted to him. He comes down and they said, will you plead on our behalf that God would let us go? He's like I'll go ask so any goes and ask he comes back later God lets him go down and talk to him and his story is yeah ain't gonna happen You sin you knew what you were sinning was wrong. You knew it was wrong. You took to pack together We looked at that they signed it up, and he's like no you're here This is where you're going to be and so he goes down to those spirits in prison And he tells them the bad news of this is where you're going to stay and he goes back up and so it's a weird little story in there, but but he tells it and so It's like I said, it's different. So they're there, they're trapped. God sends the flood. You have the Nephilim, these hybrids, also called Titans, also called Apkallu or whatever. They aren't men. They're not immortals. They're not spirit beings. They were some foreign creation. They're something that wasn't supposed to be made. God didn't want that to happen. That's why you have all the Levitical laws of kinds stay within kinds. It helps make sense of why all of a sudden, years later, now he puts all these laws. You don't lay with a pig. You don't lay with this. And he goes through, and it gets very graphic, and he's saying, you don't do this. You don't do what they used to do. You don't do what they did in those lands that they do that. They were all, in the records that we have and the stories that get passed down, they were all evil. They were cannibalistic. They were very violent. They were known for their lust. They were known for their pride. It's to the point where, you know, when they're coming out of Egypt that God says the sin of the Amorites is not yet full. So you have to wander around. I think it was even before he put him into Egypt. The sin was not full. They go to Egypt for 400 years and he's like, okay, now Joshua, go wipe them all out. These guys, this was after the flood, but they're just horrible. They have rights. How they lived and how they lived this way. Matter of fact, when we get to, on Wednesday night, In 1 Kings, it's going to talk about how those things that Joshua wasn't able to get rid of all, how they start creeping back in. And they start doing the things that was in the land beforehand. And he told them not to. Destroy all this stuff. Don't be fascinated by it. Don't let it back in. And they start letting it back in. And it specifically mentions sodomy and all that as it comes in. And so he says, get rid of it. And so this is all introduced by them. There's no resurrection for them. We saw that last week. Isaiah 26, 14 talked about that. They are dead. You know, there is no resurrection. Isaiah 14, 9 through 10 says the same thing. They are there, the chief ones down in hell. And he says, because of that, You have no resurrection. Your spirits live on and you're trapped on earth. And that's the evil spirits or the demons. They seek embodiment. Are they ghosts? Maybe they pass themselves off as ghosts sometimes and they pretend they're liars. You know, so I'm your Uncle Joe. If that captivates you, keeps you in fear, and keeps you away from the Lord, yeah, they keep you fascinated by that. One of the testimonies we got as I've been collecting testimonies for the Jesus Barn was that a guy was out ghost hunting. You've seen the shows. You know, they all walk around and scare each other. and they record it and they have these meters and they do all this. He'd been out doing that and it was to the point where he was turning his back on it. He had dealt with Christianity and thought about it. Knew there was something supernatural because he's out trying to see it. He downloaded these apps on his phone and had different meters and they were going to abandoned houses looking for ghosts and doing all this. But he said, he came around the corner and he sees the Jesus bar and he says, you'll have to end there's judgment and he died for you. He said it made him stop and think. He ends up getting saved because of it. One of the salvation testimonies I was able to hear because of this. But he does that, and he goes, I know that there was something. And I knew that they were lying. And I knew that I was at a point where I had to make a turn. And he goes, I took it as a sign that God used it to be able to draw him to salvation. But they're liars. They're deceivers and so maybe so Jesus said that they like it dry They don't like makes come stands to reason you know if you're drowned by a flood you probably stay away from water If you don't like steaks you stay away from snakes right angel yeah It's like and so you don't like water you stay away from there You don't want to go to those places Elaine used to always be afraid of a gravel pit Because when she was growing up you know her family grandparents or her parents grew up in farms down around Somewhere around Bedford, you know Martinsville area that way and some was up they live in several different places But they had gravel pits around there and she was always afraid because I remember young at the kids They're playing on a pile of gravel. We had in the driveway quit it You'll drown in that and I'm like a gravel pits a hole where water gets and they drown in the water. She's like, oh that makes more sense You know five-year-old, you know, don't play in gravel you'll drown But you know, she'd always stay away from that you stay away from something you're fearful of and Don't tell her I told you that story. So they like to go to dry desert areas and we read the story there in the New Testament where a man is demon possessed, the spirit leaves, he goes to a dry area, comes back and brings more with him, makes sense. We saw the story of the demon possessed man. And the demoniac says, I am Legion. He had all them with him. He lived in the tomb, cut himself with rocks. And Jesus says, they're like, have you come to walk us away before the time? Put us in the pit. And he's like. Well, maybe. But he said, well, you send us to the pigs. And so he's like, OK. Sends them to the swine. Swine want to get rid of the demons? They all go drown them in the water. Same way you get rid of them the first time. Drowns them in the water. I was just remembering on the way in, I was thinking, there's the one in the Book of Revelation that says there's the four that are bound to the River Euphrates, that he has them in jail. Underwater that traps them in some way. I don't know if that's where the Catholics you know when they talk about holy water Holy water is not the Bible, but maybe they just don't like water, and if there's demon-possessed person you flinging on I'm like I don't like it. Yes, maybe that's why it's just annoying to him get a squirt gun, but I've not had that encounter, so I don't stay away from it says not in the Bible, but maybe that's what this seems like they don't like water I don't think so. I think they want to possess something because they want to be in something. They can't taste, feel, do anything. But I think the pigs were like, maybe Jesus knew. You can go to the pigs. So they got rid of them, tormented them again. And this is building to a point. So I've got 10 minutes to get really fast again. Look at Hebrews chapter 1. So that's scriptures we already knew and looked at. Enoch kind of tells us that, that, hey, they become the spirits, they can't taste or anything. Hebrews 1. And so they seek embodiment, one, to torment people, two, to have some experience of living. I don't know what it's like to not have a body. That's why we are resurrected with a body, a promise that we have. Hebrews 1.5 says, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be unto him a father, and to me a son. To none. He's never said to any of the angels. Proves or runs against the idea that Jesus Christ was just an angel no Jesus Christ is as a son of God so that said that to any of them or He's not made them a son. We become sons or daughters when we repent and trust in Christ. He adopts us He makes us one of his he promises that to us, but he doesn't say it to them He didn't Jesus Christ didn't become an angel and die for the angels he became a man to die for men verse 13 He says but to which of the angels said he at any time sit on my right hand until I make my enemies thine enemies a footstool He doesn't say to them, he doesn't promise redemption for them, he doesn't promise glory for them. Matter of fact, he says to you and me, you will judge angels. There's going to be reversal. They were over us, we're going to be over them. That's more we'll look at later. Verse 14 says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? He says, I didn't redeem them. Matter of fact, the good ones that are left, they're there to guard and protect you. until you become saved. Heirs of salvation. This is a guardian angel verse, that there are angels who watch over us, who are going to become, get saved. And then once we do get saved, I don't think they leave. I think they stay and still watch out and help us. And so I think there's a verse if you ever wanted a guardian angel verse right there. So if anything, they do things for us. So now in the last 10 minutes, turn to 1 Peter 3. One of the most avoided sections of scripture in the New Testament. So to catch up to speed a little bit here is that Peter and the other disciples, their culture, they esteemed Enoch, which we do too, right? Enoch didn't die. 300 years walks with God. I mean, we don't have a lot of details. We have what Jude says that he prophesies about an end times event. We have the book of Enoch that maybe gives us a little more information. We just know that he was righteous. We know that his son was the trigger date for when the flood would happen, his death shall bring, and then his great His grandson, great grandson, is the one who builds the ark, so it's a good lineage to be in there. He's in the lineage of Christ too. So we know he's something, but he's super popular during the time of Christ, during the day of the New Testament here. The New Testament people read it, they knew about it, and then they spoke in the terms of, it's called Enochian, they referenced it in this Enochian text. But Peter saw, he goes through and he lists a lot of types and shadows and we know that they are there and Christ told us. He taught them on the road to Emmaus and others. These types and shadows and pictures and foreshadowings. Peter saw Enoch as a type. And I imagine you would if you were there witnessing a guy fly up to heaven at the Ascension. He's going to be like, hey, I saw this in the Old Testament. And so between Elijah and Enoch, you would have that. And he's like, I see Enoch as a type, as I think you would. And so Peter imagines And he's thinking about here in this section more of the spiritual warfare. Because the Jews, because they saw not only Jesus Christ at the cross defeating sin and death, but also he's turning over the wicked stuff that the angels introduced and also the wicked stuff that goes on during Babel that we'll look at in the future. So he's reversing all that and he's putting it back. He's reversing the effects of all those incursions on mankind and he is switching it, putting it back on course. And we're at the latter end of that. And so Peter imagines the spiritual warfare, so chapter 3, look at verse 12. He says, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. So he's drawn in a black and white. God listens to his, God intercedes on the behalf of his, God is against those that do evil, and he begins thinking of the ultimate evil, these bad guys, the ones who or locked away, verse 13. And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? He's like, be on God's side. It just makes sense. The battles are real. Err to be on God's side. Then he gives us some help here, verse 14. But if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid for their terror, neither be thou troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. He says, if you suffer for doing right, good, that means you're doing right. And if you're suffering for it, it's going to be counted towards you. Don't worry about it. Matter of fact, be ready to give your testimony. Be ready for the answer, the reason, the hope that lies within you. I'm not doing this because I'm me. I'm doing this because who died for me. Because I was a sinner and Jesus Christ died for me in my place. I repented and trusted him as my Savior, so I'm able to do this. And if you're going to punish me for it, so be it. Giving strength to the martyrs here and strength to those being persecuted for 16 Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers. They may be ashamed shame that falsely accused or a good conversation in Christ. He said, rather, it's better for you to be accused and have it be a false accusation than have it be a real one. He says, so you just keep doing good no matter what. If they kill you for it, good. You're siding with Christ, you're being righteous, you're doing right. If they're going to be mad at you for that, still do right. I think it's Bob Jones that's quoted as saying, do right, do right, do right until the stars fall. Just do right. Stay at it. So Peter is encouraging us to do this. Verse 17, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. Makes a lot more sense. He's like, if you're going to be in trouble for doing right, good. Because hey, God writes it down, keeps a book on it. We saw that this morning and this morning, he keeps record of what you're doing. And he says, you're in good company. Verse 18, for Christ has also suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. You're in good company. If you suffer for being right, Christ suffered for being right, and he brought people to him, maybe your death and your testimony will help win other people to him. He said, so you're in good company. So he's encouraging us to fight the good fight in the spiritual battle. They're going to lie, they're going to do whatever. He says, you do right. He tells us this interesting point, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." Most skipped portion of scripture, probably right there, other than Genesis 6. They also skip this one because they're like, I don't know what's going on, Jesus preaching in prison, I don't get it. put yourself in Peter's shoes. He sees Enoch as a type. He sees Enoch as a hero. And what did Enoch do? He went and delivered bad news to those in prison. Yeah, you're stuck down here. You're going to stay stuck down here. And so he sees Jesus Christ as doing the same thing. Imagine the rumblings of hell. good speculation in that I don't know how well they can communicate down there, but what the news is the Son of God came to earth. They killed him. Do you think the angels are in prison if they have any way to communicate at all? Enoch said they at least were able to ask for Enoch to go, so maybe there's some every once in a while. Whoa, it's me! And they're crying, but they're like, I hear he's dead. And I imagine that made a roar. We killed him. They're thinking, maybe there's hope. Maybe we do get out of here. Maybe we do get out of this tight place. Maybe we do get out of this dark hole. Maybe we do have a chance. We defeated him. But Jesus goes down there and says, yeah, I'm here, boys, for three days. You're still stuck in here. You're going to stay stuck in here. Matter of fact, I'm taking half of this because he goes to hell, and that's the Old Testament word, Sheol, the grave. Remember, it was divided into two halves. One half called Abraham's bosom, paradise. The other half, hell. Jesus Christ led captivity captive. He took those in paradise that were bought on credit up to the presence of the Father. Then hell hath enlarged itself. And so he's there. Yeah, I'm only here for three days. Bad news for you. Still bad news. You're staying in hell. You're going to stay here until the day of judgment. Peter sees that. Peter says, man, he goes and tells them. He goes and tells those that are locked up that there's bad news for them. And then he says, he uses baptism as a picture. And he makes it clear. Baptism doesn't save you. He says, it's not like you're washing your skin. That doesn't save you. You need to be washed in the blood as we sing the song. You need to repent and trust in Christ. It's not this act of baptism. But the act of baptism does paint a picture to those in the spirit realm. It is us saying that one, we identify with Christ. It's everything that we mention. We're identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The water is judgment. The water represents death. Those not in the boat die. And so it represents all those things. And it also reminds these wicked spirits, whether they be Nephilim or whether they be these spirits, which were the offspring of them, which they liked their kids, is that, hey, I was dead, but I'll be made alive. There's no promise of the resurrection for them. Hey, you were judged under the water. I get to come back up. Hey, you have no hope. Jesus Christ has pulled me out. He sets me on high. Hey, you are dead. This judgment for you, it doesn't bound for me. I am free. Matter of fact, it shows that I am alive, that I'm a new creature, that I've been made into something that I wasn't before. You are stuck in that. I am free from that. So it reminds them that, yep, I will die, but I will rise again. You will not. Water was death unto you? It is not. It is not the grave for me. I will live forever and everlasting life. Jesus Christ saved me. He rose again and he promises me I will rise again. And so the church used to say at baptism, part of what they would say, they'd ask their testimony, ask if they believed. and why they believed. They buried him in the baptism and raised him to a newness of life because of their testimony. And then they would also renounce the devil and his works and any hold that he had on them. I'm a new person. I break the bonds of Satan. I break the bonds of the master who was over me. I've shunned him and I've turned towards Christ. And so it was a breaking ceremony. I am done with the devil. It's all buried. May it be buried like it was in that ancient world. May I be raised to a newness of life like we're in the new world here. There's an octave, a new beginning, right? The keyboard starts up again. Octave, eight on the arc, eight here, new beginning. It's a new beginning for us. We are symbolizing that through the baptism as well. And I think that that makes it pretty cool that they saw baptism also as spiritual warfare. I identify with Christ. I am against you. And this is to remind you of the watery pit that you were in and that there's no hope for you. And so I think that's pretty cool. And it opens up this matter of fact, verse 28 or 22, says, who has gone into heaven is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. He's no prisoner. They're all bowing down to him. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So what I thought might have been a victory, he goes down and reminds them, no, you're losers. You're still losers. You're going to be losers. Victory is mine. And one day, this will all be done. To me, that helps make that all make more sense. It helps open up these Old Testament scriptures and the confusing sections of the New Testament. The other ones too, where Peter's like, why, not Peter, Paul, why are girls to wear a hat? Because of the angels. He's worried of what's going to go on. We could spend other time on that one, but that's, the thinking's even more strange than that. But he's basically, he's worried about that and stay away from it. But I think that's pretty neat to think about how it's locked away and how it's in there. Now what I think I'm gonna do next week is we're gonna go back to the garden again and we don't always have a full picture on who Satan is and how that works throughout the Bible some too. I wanna look at the Nakash, that's what he's called. It's always translated serpent for us, but that's not always where it's translated in the Hebrew. Again, we're reading a translation, so just going and looking what the Nakash is, what that might be, and how do we need to be on guard. Oh, another verse I didn't look up, but here. But one that we'll cover in the future is that one of the things I think we have to guard for now, if we were in the last days, like in the days of Noah, that it says in the last days that men will no longer endure sound doctrine. They won't read the Bible, they won't interpret the Bible, they won't go with what God's word says, but they'll what? Embrace the teaching of devils. demons and take their instruction just like they did before the flood and it perverted them and it caught them in the trap and it led them to death and destruction. It says in the last days you've got to be on guard. There's going to be those that will be teaching in church but denying the power of God. As a matter of fact it calls it the great apostasy. We're going to turn our back on that and they're going to follow the teaching of devils and demons. So we need to be on guard and reading the word and saying is that what he said? Is that not what he said? Is that right or is that not right? So test me. Hold me accountable. Read all this. And test it out for yourselves. I'm just here, especially on this night, to show you what some of the new revelations that we're seeing as these books are being opened and as understanding is coming that is explaining some of these more difficult texts. And so we'll take a look at more of them next week as we come to discuss them. But I appreciate you all being here. And we'll be closing with a word of prayer.